When Yohanes Surya, founder of Surya University, was a young boy living on the outskirts of Jakarta, he experienced poverty first-hand. His family of eleven members lived in a small, three-room house and he would often share one piece of fish with his eight siblings. His mother would go without food, and insist that her kids eat. Nothing was taken for granted.
Some people affected by poverty make it their life’s mission to make money and achieve security and stability. This is not Surya’s story. Instead, he channeled his early challenges into empathy for others and a passion for uplifting the poor in Indonesia. He strived to develop new possibilities for individuals and families across the country. Surya’s way of doing this, was also different from the norm. He didn’t start a typical charity or work in traditional development; rather, he decided to utilize a unique mathematical method he had discovered—a logic-based rather than formula-based way of teaching and doing math—to improve the lot of his young compatriots by giving them greater chances for success.
Between Surya's creative methodology and boundless leadership, he was able to scale an organization, a research institute, and a university, all focused on elevating Indonesia’s youth as scientists, mathematicians, discoverers, and leaders. Surya believes that through his mathematical method, he can help transform Indonesians’ mindsets—not only increasing their confidence to solve everyday problems, but to invent whole new solutions and possibilities for the country.
What makes someone extraordinary? How did Surya go from his upbringing with parents that only had access to elementary education, to becoming a world-renowned mathematician and physicist, a university-founder, and a national leader of social change?
Watch him tell his own story here:
To learn more about Surya’s work transforming Indonesians’ relationship with math as founder of the Surya Institute and Surya University, watch this video:
With this story and others, Ashoka and The Lemelson Foundation are building a library of evidence to inspire the next generation of inventors and changemakers. Find more first-person stories of Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows in multimedia vignettes illustrating the intersection of invention and social innovation over the next few weeks on this blog and at Ashoka.org/lemelson-videos.
